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Thursday, October 6, 2016

Two Locals Tapped For State Honor

JoAnn Brandt and Sylvia D. Clark have been awarded The Ruby Assaf Presidential Award by the Mississippi Library Association. The Ruby Assaf Presidential Award honors an outstanding individual volunteer(s) in the Friends of the Mississippi Libraries or in a local Friends chapter. “JoAnn, co-founder in 1984 of our local Friends chapter along with Joyce McGraw, and Sylvia worked tirelessly and passionately for over 30 years to support the Winston County Library,” said Winston County Librarian Beth Edwards. The idea for a Friends chapter came from attending a state legislative budgeting meeting in Jackson, MS in 1983. They mailed over 2,000 membership letters to local Winston County citizens, stating the need for a Friends group for the local library. The response was overwhelming. They served as officers and tireless library supporters since 1984 until retiring in 2016. During their over thirty-year tenure, they, along with many other friends members, raised over $256,000 to fund badly needed items for the library that cannot be provided by county and city funding. “For a small rural community of 19,000, they have managed to help raise an incredible amount of money and community support for the Winston County Library,” said Edwards. “I have never met two more dedicated library family members. I am so proud of this well-deserved honor for them.”

The award will be presented at the 2016 Mississippi Library Association Annual Conference in Vicksburg, MS on Friday October 21. The event takes place at the Vicksburg Convention Center during the MLS Awards Breakfast.